1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for providing location-based assistance, and more particularly, to a system and a method for providing location-based assistance that uses a mobile device to connect to a website server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, cell phones are so popular that nearly everyone owns one on average. To some people, a cell phone is even an indispensable article in everyday life that they need to carry around all the time. On the other hand, the development of location-based services has been growing rapidly, since more and more people are using their cell phones to access the Internet, while cell phones featuring mobile positioning functions are gaining popularity. Location-based services allow users to acquire the service they need based on where they are. For example, a user heading for a certain location can first locate himself/herself using a mobile device capable of mobile positioning, and then retrieve map information from a service provider.
The use of location-based services covers a wide range. Taiwan Patent Application Publication No. 200301432 relates to providing content and information according to a user's location information sent from the mobile device. Taiwan Patent Application Publication No. 1241799 relates to a service system that automatically selects and provides information. Taiwan Patent Application Publication No. 200742833 relates to a method that automatically transforms the content format so that it can be identified and read by nearly all of the mobile devices. Moreover, location-based services have been used to provide emergency assistance, like the “Emergency Report e-Platform” launched in Taiwan. When an assistance requester uses a cell phone to dial 911, the cell phone will be located by nearby cell sites, which also records the assistance requester's location information at the same.
However, the foregoing methods all require cell sites to record and transmit mobile device users' location information. Thus, the positioning accuracy is more prone to be affected by the amount and density of cell sites. In areas where cell-site density is sparse, positioning result would be less accurate. Besides, the foregoing methods only store the assistance requester's location information but fail to utilize it, and the assistance providers are rather limited.
In addition, there are some emergency situations where an assistance requester cannot speak to an assistance provider, like in a ransom case. The service provider may thus fail the opportunity to give first aid for not knowing the assistance requester's needs. Moreover, the assistance requester's location may constantly change; recording only the initial location cannot help the subsequent assistance process. For the reasons stated above, it is necessary to develop a system and method that is able to digitally analyze the information about the assistance request and requester's location, and that is also able to do a planning and to release the information, so that the efficiency of providing assistance can be improved.